Under the Weather
by Rustred
Summary: Lily and James have only just recently moved into their new home. James's gets sick and needs Lily's help to figure out her stupid muggle thermometer.


Lily Potter was in the kitchen of her brand new home, putting the dishes away. She wasn't using magic, to the shock of her husband. As much as Lily liked magic, sometimes she just got tired of it all and longed for a little bit of her old life, before her parents' deaths and her sister's hatred of her, and the goddamn war. Sometimes it seemed like too much.

A sudden crash, followed by loud swearing, made Lily smile. Of course, there were always people to get her through times like these. People like James. "Are you all right there, sweetheart?" She called, closing the cabinet door and trying very hard not to laugh.

"Perfectly fine, dear." James answered in a strained voice. "Couldn't be better." Lily peeked out into the hall where her husband was and had to duck back into the kitchen so she could laugh without him seeing her. James had apparently tripped over the doorstep as he was walking through carrying several boxes. The boxes and James were sprawled every which way.

After regaining her composure, Lily went to James, who had managed to sit up by them. "Where does it hurt?" Lily asked, sitting beside him. James stuck out his bottom lip and pointed to his elbow. Lily examined the elbow. She had to admit, there was a small scrape. Looking up at James through her eyelashes, she smirked, and, with just a hint of sultry desire in her voice, murmured. "Would you like me to kiss it better?" Without waiting for a response, she bent down, and softly kissed his elbow.

James smiled wickedly. "It hurts here, too." He pointed to his lips, once again pouting.

Lily smiled back. "We'll have to see what we can do about that, now won't we?" Slowly, she leaned in and captured James's mouth in a gentle kiss. Suddenly, fire filled them both, and Lily found herself lying on the floor, furiously kissing James, as he kissed her back and worked on the buttons of her blouse. This was the kind of magic Lily liked best.

---

"Lily, Lily cand you comeb ind here?" Lily sighed, and started towards the bedroom. It had been several weeks since the day they had moved in, and in that time, James had come down with an awful cold. Tissues literally littered nearly every inch of the bed and floor beside James, who was lying with the blanket up to his red nose. He looked miserable.

Lily sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed back James's hair off his forehead. "What is it, darling?"

"I feel awful. Do we have andy bore tissues?" James moaned weakly.

"Poor baby. Let me check." Lily stood and walked to the bathroom. She took the thermometer off the counter. James has felt quite hot and she wanted to make sure that he wasn't running a high fever. After searching under the counter and in the closet, and coming up empty handed, Lily went to the living room. If she remembered correctly, there was a box on the table in there. She retrieved it and started back towards the bedroom. Halfway there, Lily leaned against a wall, as a wave of slight dizziness hit her. She was exhausted, she had been running around all day, juggling James's illness and fixing up the house. It still wasn't completely done, but Lily didn't want to put it off. However, she hadn't been feeling very well herself for the past couple of days. She was working through it, mostly because she couldn't help but be positive it wasn't want James had. Speaking of James…

"These are all we have," Lily said, walking into the room, "but I am going to go get more." She set them down next to him, and then sat back down on the bed. "Open your mouth." She turned on the thermometer and stuck it under his tongue. While they waited, Lily ran her figures through James's hair. Whenever he was sick, she realized just how much she depended on him. The thermometer beeped, jolting them both. "Slight fever." Lily murmured. "I am going to the store, sweetie. I'll be back soon." James nodded, sniffed miserably, and then settled into the blankets. Before Lily had even made it off the bed, he was asleep.

---

James awoke later to a particularly violent sneeze. Realizing that he had to go to the bathroom, he sighed and dragged himself out of bed. This cold was practically killing him. He could hear Lily banging around in the kitchen and realized that she must be home from her shopping. Sure enough, there was a new box of tissues beside the bed. Taking a few, he went into the bathroom.

Sitting on the counter was the thermometer. After quickly checking his forehead, James decided that he better check his temperature. "Just ind case." Remembering that Lily had to turn it on before she had used it on him before, he located and pressed the button. Nothing happen. James pressed it again. Still nothing. Thinking he must have the wrong button, James's finger scrambled over the small plastic stick, not finding any working buttons at all.

"Lily!" He called. "I ndeed someb help!"

There was a particular loud bang, followed by a few, choice swears and the rush of flowing water. Quickly there after, an incantation was shouted and the water sounds stopped. Lily appeared at the bathroom door, spelling her hair dry. "What's up?" She asked.

"I cand't figure out how to turnd it ond!" James cried, clearly exasperated. "I just wand to take by tebeture!" Lily took the thermometer out of James's hand, looked at it for a second, before setting it down on the counter and covering her face with her hands. The bits he could still see were turning red and she was making a weird snuffly noise. "Lily, are you-" James realized then that Lily wasn't hurt or crying, she was laughing! He scowled, which he hoped was impressively dangerous looking. "It's dot fuddy that I dod't know about buggle thigs! I dod't laugh at you whend you dod't know about wizard thigs!"

Lily had managed to get her giggles under control then. "No, no, James." She fought back another round. "That's not a thermometer."

"It's dot?" James was clearly befuddled at this.

"No, it's a pregnancy test. I haven't had time to take it yet. The sink needed fixing. Anyways, I don't know any of the wizarding ways to tell if someone is pregnant, and I had to go to the muggle grocery store anyways, for cold medicine for you, so I picked one up, figuring I'd-" It was at this point that James finally grasped what Lily had started out her tirade with.

"Wait, a pregdacy test?" Lily nodded. "You're pregdant?"

"I think so," Lily paused, looking quite anxious. "Is that okay with you?" This was the part she had forgot to think about. After all, Lily and James were both only just out of school. Eighteen was pretty young to have a baby.

James let a whoop of joy and jumped off the counter where he had been sitting. He danced out of the door, repeatedly shouting something that sounded like. "We're having a baby! She's pregdant! Having by baby! I ndeed to Floo everyond!" Lily smiled widely. They were having a baby. Rubbing her yet-unchanged stomach, she followed her husband, the father of her baby, and imagined their lives together. Happy, just like this, for a very long time.


End file.
